Connections: Patriots - Steelers

New England Patriots

A look at the connections between the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

NEW ENGLAND TIES

Steelers LB Tyler Matakevich is originally from Stratford, Conn. and attended St. Joseph's High School in Trumbull, Conn. He helped the Cadets capture back-to-back state championships and was an all-state honoree at linebacker his senior year.

PITTSBURGH AREA TIES

Patriots RB Dion Lewis attended the University of Pittsburgh from 2009- 10, where he finished fourth on the school's all-time rushing list with 2,860 yards. He also became the first player since Michael Vick(Virginia Tech, 1999) to earn Big East Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season after rushing 325 times for 1,799 yards (5.5 avg.) and 18 total touchdowns as a freshman in 2009.

Patriots LB Nicholas Grigsby also attended Pittsburgh from 2011-15, where he played in 50 games with 18 starts and collected 144 career tackles (100 solo) and 9.5 sacks during his career.

FORMER PATRIOTS

Steelers LB L.J. Fort spent a brief period of time on the Patriots roster during the team's 2015 training camp.

Both Steelers TE Xavier Grimbleand CB Mike Hilton were on the Patriots practice squad for a short period of time in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

FORMER STEELERS

Patriots QB Brian Hoyer was on the Steelers roster for Weeks 12 and 13 of the 2012 season, though he did not see game action.

Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin was the defensive coordinator in Minnesota in 2006 when Patriots defensive line coachBrendan Daly was the defensive assistant/defensive line coach and wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea was an offensive assistant/wide receivers for the Vikings.

Pittsburgh assistant head coach/defensive line John Mitchell was the defensive line coach for the Browns from 1991-93 when Patriots head coach Bll Belichick* was the head coach in Cleveland. Pittsburgh wide receivers coach* Rihard Mann* was also the wide receivers coach under Belichick from 1991-93 at Cleveland.

Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley was the wide receivers coach/ offensive assistant for the Jets when Patriots head coach *Bill Belichick *ws the assistant head coach/secondary in New York from 1997-99.

Haley was also the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals from 2007-08 when Patriots DL Alan Branch played in Arizona, and Steelers outside linebackers coach *Joey Porter *plyed with Branch at Arizona in 2010.

Steelers running backs coach James Saxon served in the same capacity at Kansas City when Patriots wide receivers coach *Chad O'Shea *was wit the Chiefs from 2003-05 as an assistant special teams and linebackers coach. Saxon also coached the running backs at Minnesota when New England defensive line coach *Brendan Daly *was at Mnnesota from 2012-13 in the same role.

FORMER COLLEGE TEAMMATES

Patriots RB James White was teammates with Steelers LB T.J. Wattat Wisconsin in 2013, though Watt did not play due to a redshirt.

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